Tratasmara Chronicles: On the hunt for the Throne
by heatherweather
Summary: Our universe is composed of many what ifs, and all those lead to other realities, this is the story of one of those realities. TOM/KAT BRAT pairing.
1. Switched reality

New story, I don't own the original characters, showtime does now. I only control the plot and the OC's. A lot of OC going on here you have been warned.

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What if in a universe we all know, a fluke in the timeline happened. What if somebody imagined that the Reformation never happened, would we still be living in darkness? What if Anne Boleyn had suceeded in giving Henry a son? Would England be powerful and the American Revolution never happened, would Parliament be just as strong or would we be living under autocratic rule, would the Windsors still be the reigning House in Power over the Monarchy? Would a Prime Minister exist? What if Katherine had born Henry a son that lived and Mary dies ... what if?

So many possibilities, each and one of them** already** occurred under our noises, but we didn't notice them, because in the timeline **_it_** occurred it settled a different timeline, and many parallel universes, all tangents of our universes, connencted from certain points and time in our timeline. However; our timeline has not been diverged or attempted to be diverged, because in our timeline is the timeline where all of this derived, our central timeline however does not mean we are the ultimate, just that we have partners, twins if you will in other dimensions where all of this never happened, or did but in different ways.

This is the story of one of these chronicles, where a single change caused many other strings that changed that timeline forever. As with everything it was not for the best or worse, depending who you were.

_Time is a relative thing_ after all ...

{And here we go ...}

**1505**

**Dowager Princess' Residence:**

"Are you saying that I should return to Spain. Dr. de Puebla how am I ever supposed to do this, now that I have discovered betrayal amongst my duena, and when the King does not want to return the dowry or that my father "missed" a part to pay?"

"Infanta, I am sorry to say that there is no other way you can risk it here. Your prescence alone sets an obstcacle for the King of England to marry his son off to a noble French Princess." Dr. de Puebla explained to the stubborn and very proud Infanta. She was truly her mother's daughter._ The apple didn't fall far from the tree _De Puebla thought drily. He thought he would be free from that manly Queen Isabella of Castilla, but alas now he had to deal with her equally manly daughter -the Infanta Catalina, whom was nowhere as patient like her father the maverick Fernando of Aragon.

He wondered what he ever did in a past life, if such thing ever existed, to desserve to have to deal with women who didn't know where their place was. Like her mother she lacked obedience, passivity and proper prudence, she was anything like the English Roses who were obedient, submissive, cordial and very lively active in the arts of pleassuring, dancing and entertainment. Even thought Catalina de Aragon loved to dance and show off -just like any other woman, again he thought dryly- her fashions and beauty, she was nowhere as lady like pleassuring men and making them feel powerful like her other past counterparts. By the ways she acted and spoke bluntly -it was like she thought of herself as a man. How propestrous indeed, a princess who wanted to rule and be the man of the land, what was this girl thinking? How do her parents expect her to rule and become a proper and virtous Queen when she lacks obedience, and has a big mouth like if she was the devil's mistress?

Catalina cleared her throat to Dr. de Puebla, she hated being commanded, and to thank God that her mother was still alive -she thought; otherwise her father would have abandandoned her and she would be nothing more than a love sick helpless daughter of Spain crying for her father and the captive King to release her. Her mother send her new letters, letter she didn't doubt Puebla, the King's spies or maybe even her maids had openned, but it didn't matter for in it her mother said her daughter was to forget her old lessons -prudence, virture and kneeling and swearing an oath as it should be before the Law of the Holy God and their Holy Cross- if she wanted to survive on England.  
It was very clear Isabella of Castilla was not going to go anywhere near politics and special interests this time, unlike Fernando who urged her their daughter was better off fighting her battles alone so she could learn from her own experience and mistakes.  
Isabella refuse and therefore now Catalina remained here behind cloistered walls awaiting another answer, hopefully one possitive to the nature of her captivity. Recently she had set eyes on the Prince of Wales -Henry Tudor. For a boy he was growing fast and he was handsome, but it seemed her mother who would be coming next year to see the conditions of which her daughter was living on would have a different eye for a different man.

Isabella had refused Catalina marry Henry VII, because Isabella wanted Catalina to rule even after the old geezer was dead, and that meant through even a daughter or a son, now Catalina when she could see her mother's intentions she became nervous as she had no idea how her mother could work out an arrangement between Henry future Henry the Eighth(VIII) and her. But Isabella still had a few tricks up her sleeve she had learned from Fernando and so with these changes upon history, in where Isabella would live and her daughter would give the next King what he most wanted -our timeline's tale began.

Dr. de Puebla was dismissed by Catalina. She wished to speak to him no longer. She yearned to see her mother's ammount of money and a new dowry she would bring to complete her father's sum of money to Henry VII and maybe hopefully even betrothe her to Henry, whom she could see he yearned to be the handsome Prince to rescue a damsel in distress, in this case the damsel would be her and she would make him believe [once they were married] that he had been her rescuerer from debt and poverty.


	2. Tainted love

Historically Isabella of Castile died 1504, here she gets to outlive Fernando, what does this cause to Katherine and her other daughter, Juana's fates?

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{Warnings: scenes of a sexual nature.}

**January 1507**

**Dowager Princess' Residence:**

It had taken two years almost for her mother to reach England, but here she was. She made it known to her subjects that went along her in her voyage to visit her daughter, that she hadn't forgot about her daughter. Everyone who was close to the High Queen of Spain and Castile knew that Isabella loved Katherine above all her daughters, even above Juana.

Juana -the Queen whispered quietly as she thought to her eldest daughter and heir to the throne of Castile. She was mentally unstable to hold such position, Isabella knew the complications that Juana would face if she reigned on her own. There were many men, hungry and lustful for power and greed. They would use her daughter's pure heart to take advantage and rule as her 'de facto' rulers. It was something Isabella could not allow.

She cleared her throat as she told her maidservant to tell her daughter's most trusted lady in waiting -Maria de Salina that she had arrived.

It didn't need a whipping for the young maid to obey her sire and Queen. Everyone knew that in temperament, the Tratasmara women had in common their anger and frustration when their orders were not carried out. Isabella was a humble and poor woman -she often said when she presented herself in her husband's Court at Aragon or Navarra, but inside her soul -looking at her eyes they saw a beast waiting to be unleashed.

Unlike the caged and poor woman beast that Isabella had to put as her trademark when she was with her husband, she was in reality a free lioness, waiting for her husband's death so she could rule his Kingdom and his name and as Regent. Others would say this was a mistake, and some very cunning men preferred Juana ruled, but everyone who knew of her mental instability -knew how quick other men, previous loyalists who worked alongside her cunning Fernando would take no more that two seconds to overthrow Juana and lock her up. Isabella would not allow that, nor she would allow for Katherine to be locked up in this filthy residence any longer.

The sight of his castle was hardly the worth of a High Princess and Infanta like Catalina. Her sweet Catalina, how she relished the memories when her daughter would ride with her mother to battle, declaring her mother's victories and admiring her as the woman best suited for the throne of Spain. Of course her "loving" husband did not like it that Katherine was always idolizing Isabella more than her master and King, but to Katherine [as her daughter was calling herself off now, to pass as a "worthy" English to inherit the Consortium and marry that pompous boy -Henry Tudor, the Prince of Wales who by matter of sheer luck had jumped ahead in first line to the throne after his old man would very soon no doubt hit the grave. A sight Isabella wished she would see soon] who never really cared about others' opinions except her mother, her father's rants mattered little.

It was truly a shame, yet God had a way of working in very mysterious ways. So Isabella in her deep faith reasoned there must have been a very great reason why God had not made Isabella born Katherine first and Juana later. Alas, she would think no more of this, as she saw her daughter coming to greet her sire and Queen, she put up the best smile as she could and said to Catalina [to her she would always be Catalina or Cata, never the foolish name of Katherine who sounded so wrong and simple. Not worthy of the lineage of the greatest daughter from the greatest Kings Europe had seen -Isabella thought arrogantly, stroking her daughter's cheek affectionatly] "Welcome daughter" She started in Spanish "I am glad you are well, although I am sad to say that the King has not treated you any better now that you are my Ambassador. No other woman has ever held that position, not even Queens or Infantas who have been more priviledged than you dear."

Katherine nodded and bowed her head to her mother. No matter where she was, her mother would always be her mother and most importantly her Sire and Commander. Katherine trusted her completly, it was thanks to her Katherine held an important position as her mother's representative, diplomat and Ambassador. The first woman to held that title, she felt truly grateful and promised her mother she would never dissapoint her, but she also assured her she was doing all she could to fend off the King's advances to carnal pleassure. It was no secret he lusted after her, and she was no innocent. She admitted she sometimes flirted with His Majesty, she felt awful of course when she found out His Majesty had no intention but to bed or make her his doormat wife as the late Queen Elizabeth, who had died on childbirth just last year.

Isabella said nothing, she merely smiled to her daughter. Cunning, she remarked. Her daughter was truly cunning, just like her father and me -Isabella thought. She couldn't be more proud, again drifting to imaginary and would-be lands if only God had giving him a heir to her throne like Catalina. She was meant to be however -the Queen of England, but Isabella was often worried that her daughter was getting old, for a bride it was not normal, already it was well known the Prince had taken many lovers and from nearly everyone who had ended up pregnant, or as the rumors circulated -they had all miscarriages.

Isabella could not trust that Tudor man with her daughter's womb who was surely to be fertile as all women from her honorable mother's line, not like her father's who it was no secret there was hardly something honorable to beheld on them. Isabella told Catalina not to worry, it was no use excusing herself from ambition, if she did then she was rejecting God's given knowledge. It was God's gift to her she was greater than the stupid and slow English men, if they could call themselves that!

"But mother " Katherine responded, again in spanish, but her mother held up a hand to silence her. "Daughter, you know the consequences if you face the King's wrath. It is better to let him think you want him, don't prostitute yourself to him, merely make it known you are what he says -beautiful, smart and alluring as all the daughters from our proud family" Katherine smirked at her mother's last comment, her mother returned the smirk that later turned to a grin as she further counseled her daughter.

From afar Maria de Salinas and other of the Queen's and Infanta Catalina's handmaidens they saw with concern as the youngest daughter from Isabella turned to an expression of horror, putting a hand over her mouth as her mother turned down the volume of her voice, whispering in her ears God knows what. Maria could only imagine how apalled her best friend and Mistress could be. It was known that when Isabella had a plan, it was one that was always two steps, sometimes three -ahead of her enemies or her family's rivals. Whatever she was telling her daughter, Maria could see Katherine's reluctance to take part of it.

* * *

**The Barge**

**London City**

Joan moaned with pleassure as Thomas Moore entered her. She had never expected she would ever be married, or much less finding pleassure from the man her father often said "had no personality or image". He meant image of greed, like any father -her own was worried he would go off to read and instead of working, wasting time in letters and useless philosophies as her father called it -of classics Joanne had no idea what was the point in studying them, when he could better work to bring porridge and food to the table. Yet her dowry and his new name, a name he had made for himself by his early rebellious nature when he was just a boy and his correspondence with Erasmus and other philosophers brought him much fame. The King could ignore him no longer, and the Prince of Wales seemed to like him. They were like glue, the Prince of Wales always desire to be close to his desired mentor. But his father, an old and bitter man as his mother -the other bitter woman wished not to see THomas near Prince Henry, they feared the Prince would get too influenced over romantic and useless ideas and abandon his studies to govern and run his future Country.

His father was always worried his son was like his grandfather, reckless and too much of a womanizer, yet while he blamed the blood that ran in his veins because of his mother [as always, thought Jane, it had to be the woman the one men always blame and the same whom we have to tolerate as we born as they say from a weaker sex. Joanne, Jane as Thomas called her name in pleassure hoped that Thomas would never see her as only a vessel, even if he didn't come to love her and only married her not to feel alone, she really hoped he would grow caring and really take care of her, by giving her much affection and granting her with as much sons or daughters as she desired. She loved children, she wished nothing more than to fill his house with them] ancestors, he didn't realize that his best friend Charles was the ami culprit, that son of a whore as women and men called him. Was more a womanizer that the King's surviving male heir. He had surely had to influence him -thought Joanne. She had seen the Prince of Wales one time as he rode the street with his father and My Lady the King's mother Margaret Beaufort. He was handsome and he sent a smile to her. She envied the lucky lady who would be next to rule at his side.

She only hoped she was alive to see the Queen. She had a frail health and the more Thomas pushed the more she felt weak.

They had to stop. Thomas did not feel happy but she made him respect her wishes, Thomas loved, he somehow felt flattered in a gay way to have a woman overpower him. Something about stronger women and overpowering him always made him take an interest, but by no means in a lustful way, he was just curious. Thank God at least her husband was not as lustful or a shameless womanizer like their future King and his best friend Charles Brandon. Thomas was a good and honest man, loyal and faithful to his Faith and his family.

"Joanne, I am sorry if I hurt you. I didn't mean to." He said, caressing her hands he told her maybe they should go to sleep if she felt tired, it would be best for her health. Joanne agreed and both drifted to the land of dreams, not thinking too much about the intimate night they had first spent together as husband and wife.

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A/N: I am basing the Tudor's timeline for the sake of my story. So Thomas here is twenty two years.


	3. Plans Unfold

No scenes of sexual or violent nature for this chapter, only minor insults from our favorite Spanish ladies.

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**January 24, 1507**

**Ludlow Palace:**

"Well" Isabella said reluctantly. She wasn't any happier than her daughter at the King's news. "Your former, if not I succeed former father in law and his idiot mother decided they would give you more pounds to add to your purse. Me and him talked, we agreed you are to marry the boy ... Harry, his name right?"

"You know his name Mother. Don't pretend." Katherine said coldly. Not the way a mother was used to being treated by her favored daughter. But Katherine and Isabella were hardly normal. They had grown in battlefields, among traitors and intrigue. This was the only way they knew on how to show their affection to each other.  
Sad in it commentary of itself really -though both mother and daughter.

"Catalina you know I don't care about your future or former husband's name. In fact I could care less if you give him a son. The important thing for a Queen is not to give him a son ... but that **SHE** stays alive and don't make a fool of herself with her women, men don't matter, especially here. I haven't seen one man here that I can call one."

Katherine eyed her mother carefully before she gasped in surprise. She had never heard her mother talked so plainly about any other man [except maybe her father, and that was only because He allowed her] in her presence.

Katherine remembered her mother always stressed the importance of her position and her sex, it was her duty -her mother always said [as her past Duena] to give a King a son or the heir he wants.

But now she was changing her mind. She told Katherine to stay alive and not worry so much about giving the King a son. What was going through her mother's head? Was it really true then that Juana's madness was inherited from her mother? She couldn't find any better explanation for her mother's sudden change of opinion.

"You realize _madre_ that if I do this I could very well lose that boy to some salty wench?" Katherine demanded.

Isabella smirked and turned her gaze to the window where she could better admire the forests of the Welsh Marches. "Don't say those words Catita dear, you will spoil your tongue. I should have raised you better instead of letting you hear all your father's nonsense."

"That man loved me _madre_."

"Please ... you really think if my dear Fernando were alive you would be here in this situation? Very soon to be married to this washed up Prince? No, darling you would still be begging for the King's mercy and your sister ... well your sister would be a washed up Queen just like your future husband, with no dog to bark at her. No, God was right to make me your mother and to make me your sire. I live and Fernando is dead, that is the reality we must face Catita." She added her last words with a tinge of sadness.

For Katheirne it was obvious the loss of Fernando clouded [at times] her mother's judgment, as well as her own. But she was right, they had to move on and live in the present. Had her father lived she would never have enjoyed all the priviledges she had now. In less than two weeks her mother had managed to secure her a place at Court, and live off a great purse supplied by her mother and the King of England. She had also become the youngest Ambassador and Court Representative of Foreign Relations between Spain and England in history. She had to be proud, nobody had acheived this much power and influence -she had to thank her mother, all of this was possible because of her.

But Katherine as her mother was proud and arrogant. She couldn't bend her head easily even if she wanted. She had to suffer, to know pain and more importantly, she had to know the pain of loosing someone in order to humble herself and say the words thank-you. Otherwise, Katherine would remain quiet and think it was her divine fate that got her where she was.

"So are you going to listen or just stand there?"

"I will listen" She said reluctantly, in the same defeated tone as when her mother had first told her she would go to England to wed the young and sickly Prince of Wales, Arthur Tudor.

Isabella smiled wryly. "Well then ... you don't have to give the King a son _daughter_, I know I showed you many things and told you of the lessons I had to learn the hard way so I could earn my place in this Universe. But, times have changed Catalina, this world is no longer our world. Queens and noble women and men of birth have become immaterial for the future. If you don't give this arrogant and washed up boy his desires he will leave you, and I fear he could do it soon. I have seen him as have you. He wants you, he wants to have you many times over -it is being said he has never wanted anything more in his life than you. Think of this Catalina you are of no value, not to the King at least compared to other Princesses. You are your own person, we know you marry him you will be loyal to England more than France or any Country, but if he marries a stupid French then France will be loyal to the proud English ... what does this tell you_ mija?_"

"That he considers desire above love?" Katherine half responded, half asked, not sure of where her mother was getting at.

"Partly. Ever Prince marries for desire, of be that greed, love, gold or power. But this one marries out of wanting what he cannot have. He is just like his grandfather, and Henry VII fears you might be another traitorous Queen like the she wolf of France, or worse like Eleanor of Acquitane. We all know how those Queen went down in shame, and I fear this boy will find an English Rose with French similitudes to these women appealing. You will be displaced by floating roses and french eloquence. Are we, or you going to allow that? That they displace you for a fake french who is just a floating rose? Remember English hate foreigners, they torture them until they leave, no matter how much they could love you, if there is not a Prince in that craddle they will throw you out, and the next one that comes, if she is even the slightest more French or more English than you, a true English Catalina they will worship her, regardless if she didn't give them a Prince."

"So its over then?" Katherine asked incredously.

Isabella shook her head quickly. "Of course not! Never speak like that! I said you don't have to worry about giving that Prince a son, but you are to give England a son." She concluded.

Katherine looked at her mother in shock. Had she heard right? _"give England a son ..."_ so that meant that she had to ...

No!no, no, no, no she kept repeating. She wasn't going to do that. She wasn't a wench like the rest of those English whores.

She was Catalina, now Katherine of Aragon, and not for any crown would she sell her honoro that way!

_No!_

There had to be other ways, other solution to get Henry in her grasp.

_Isabella_ shook her head, showing true sadness. _There_ was _no other way._

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**February 17th**

**Richmond Palace**

Joanne wondered why was it that her husband would bring her here? Today of all days!

It was not that she didn't love the eloquence and opulence of the Court's expensive decorum, but why couldn't it be other day? Not when it was their anniversary! He promised he would bring her roses and spent some time together with her, she guessed it wrong seeing how close he was to the former Princess of Wales and the other Courtiers surrounding them.

Joanne could barely breath in this small space.

Everyone was so intrigued to meet the man who had defied His Majesty and let his father pay the price. Neve while his father was arrested and sent to the Tower, did he recant and backed down from his opinions. Thomas said he was a man of his word, and not for a thousand pounds or for all the castles and riches in the world he would recant.

Silly me -thought Joane. She thought she would be married to a common man, or a man of reason. And she got this: a man of morals. What good was that in England? You get eaten alive just by expressing your opinions or showing your morals in front of all this decadent Court!  
True, it wasn't France where the Kings and Queen were very out in the open about their sexual preferences, but it was still a very decadent and as her husband put it -immoral Court. Not a day passed by that he didn't make a big deal out of all the libertine ways of his fellow men in Richmond.

It bore Joanne to no end as he and the Princess-Ambassador began to talk about politics and church philosophy.

She didn't understand why -when there were other more suitable brides available- would the King wed his only remaining son to this woman. She wasn't as educated, not in the ways of how a lady **should** behave. She knew nothing of kitchen, kneeting or sowing. She talked more to men than to women. She loved hanging around large crowds of women, but only those educated, and she had no problem talking to her servitude of slaves and lower class people. Often she heard she bought them gifts or gave them considerable ammounts of money to establish themselves independently of her command. Of course even if they were gone from her service, they were still very loyal and very loving for their former Mistress.

It was really amazing how quick this Spanish Princess was to make friends and _enemies _alike.

Margaret Beaufort looked towards the Spanish Infanta. She was happily conversing with that rebellious young man, Thomas Moore, the son of Sir John who had been imprisoned and forced to respond for his son on the account of his offenses done to His Majesty. Margaret could hardly understand why would the Princess and the current Prince of Wales hold this man in such a high steem.

He was nothing more than a commoner and a nobody. He barely had any flesh, rosy cheeks or color to his body like the rest of his English peers. He had a strong build, but he was very pale. He spent more time with words and reading lectures to his wife and his colleagues than _in _eating.  
What that man needed was a strong wife, one who could make him see reason. Not that meek little thing that was Mistress Joanne, now Moore.

Margaret turned her attention to her son, who was in turn talking in a low voice to his own son, the only living heir he had left -_Harry_.

"You understand that under no circumstance boy am I to see you flirting or making other women before your_ wife_ pregnant, agreed?" Henry's grip at his son's shoulder tightened as he waited for his son's answer.

The boy lowered his head, but then his father's strong grip forced him to look directly into his eyes. He quickly nodded and responded "Yes sir."

"Well then, that is my boy. Remember Henry, enjoy her, but _never, ever_, love her." Were the last words spoken to his son before he left to his chambers. A weak stomach he whispered to his mother. The festivities carried on even without their King. It wasn't a trouble missing Their Majesty from the celebrations in honor of Henry and Katherine's announcement that they would soon wed. They all were aware how tight was Henry's hold in spending money. He was not a libertine King who loved the oppulence of splendor, he was a man who loved to have a tight hold on his purse.

He didn't love spending money, he loved_ saving it_ for future purposes. Unlike dreamers who lived too much off the future or present, he was a man who lived realisticlly of both.

His mind focused on the present for the sake of his future and his descendants. Not one penny had been running low, not one treassury had been emptied. When Henry would rise to the Crown he would rise as a wealthy King, perhaps the most richest up to his Coronation. Whether he would continue to do so, depended solely on how their future King would manage their money. After all, Henry had not over taxed the population for nothing! It was all so his son learned the value of his people and the money. It was obligation over duty that a King spent money and treassury wisely, for the purposes of building a better Country and preventing a crisis from happening.

Hopefully -Henry VII thought as he reached his bedroom, stomach tight as his purse and clutching his throat to breath- his son would become a much wiser King than he was.

He was bound to, he was the only Tudor left who could save his Dynasty from dying of to oblivion.

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A/N: Like it hate it? I changed the dates of Thomas' wedding plus the dates of Kat's marriage to our future Henry.


	4. God's chosen ones

**February 18th.**

**Richmond Palace**

Joanne had woken up to an empty bed. Her husband wasn't there with her. He was probably dancing with that washed up Princess, Katherine. How she hated watching that young woman. She caught the attention of every man at Court. What did they see in her anyway?

Only a title, and a great fortune. She wasn't blind, despite what Thomas and the others thought of her, she was not an ignorant. She was a Lord's daughter and though possessing no great insight to the machinations that moved the Court of England, she had like every other English man common sense. She knew that Thomas was falling fast under the Spanish Princess' spell. For some reason he believed her to be holly or higher than any female Saint, or something.

She huffed and crossed her arms against her chest. This was the fourth time now that Thomas had done her this.

Unlike other women who would sit down and patiently wait for her husband to visit her Chambers, Joanne would stand up and look for him.

If the mountain doesn't come, you come to the mountain -her mother would always say.

She would go to Thomas, surely she would find him in the Court room dancing or chatting with the Princess. It was only her brains and the royal blood cursing through her veins that appealed to men, there really wasn't anything special about her. She was no different from any other beauty or English Rose in England.

* * *

Thomas watched the Princess sit on the top table next to her mother, the great Queen of Spain Isabella. He wished he could know what they were discussing, hopefully about her future husband, his pupil Harry. He had formed a great friendship with the boy. For his age he was very smart, he loved music and if only his father could see the true potential and the great man he would become someday.

He wrote to Erasmus that unlike other Kings and Queens, Henry would bring a new era to England. The Prince loved to surround himself with Scholars, Poets and great musicians more than machevellian men like his father. He was young, handsome, athletic, talented in every arts and very cunning, everything Thomas considered a King of England should be.

He brought the cup that was on his table to his lips, as soon as the ale touched his tongue he cringed. He was not a great drinker, he didn't like the taste of liquor and he definitely hated the taste of ale, it was like fire to his taste buds. But he drank all his half filled cup nonetheless; these days he had felt very nervous.  
Harry was learning at a fast rate, and he felt that very soon the Prince would no longer have any need for him.

What would he do after the future King would marry the Spanish Princess? What would become of him? What would become of his conversations with the Princess? He had found her to be a very intelligent person, very ahead of other women and men, ahead of her times -he had commented to Erasmus.

The Princess and betrothed of his student turned to his direction, he suddenly felt hot and he could feel himself blush when she threw him a smile that was followed by a quick wink.

He looked away, he could hear the Princess' giggles. It was like there had been no others in the room except him and _Katherine_, and to his surprise when she had smiled to him, her mother, the Queen of Spain had not seem to mind at all, she almost looked at Thomas aprovingly.

He glanced at the left side of the top table, there was Harry eagerly looking at him also looking for his approval, she smiled at him and then Harry turned to his future wife, he seemed completely smitten with the Infanta. Thomas was glad it had been a while since Harry had smiled, after his brother's death the pressure of becoming King had been laid on his shoulders and the poor boy wasn't sure if he wanted that responsibility.

* * *

Harry looked at his future wife. She looked back at him. How gorgeous she was.

Just imagine, he thought, when I put the Crown on top of her head. He couldn't wait to become King, he would make his father's proud all of his ancestors, he would become Immortal bigger than Richard the Lion Heart, bigger than John I, bigger than even William the Conqueror or his great grandson Henry II. He would beat over nation, he would unite Spain and England -they would be one and his wife, after she provided him a son would unify the two nations, making the Tudor name go on in history as the greatest Dynasty that ever walked on Earth!

Yes, it was how it was written, God would smile on them he was sure.

* * *

"Very well mother" Katherine said, these days she thought of herself as Katherine not as Catalina anymore and she wanted to make it clear to her mother.

_De ahora en adelante soy Katherine, un nombre anglicano, ingles puro para una futura Reina de Inglaterra madre._

Her mother had protested to her daughter, in name she might be Katherine, but to her conscience she would always be that timid, shy and yet cunning, ambitious girl Catalina de Aragon.

Katherine, Catherine, her mother had smirked, those names meant nothing for her. Her daughter needed to be reminded that by the end of the day she was still her daughter, and she -Isabella- was still her Mistress.

Katherine did not see eye to eye with her mother. Her mother had said to Katherine that she was thinking of having her named as her succesor, many Magistrated would not agree, but Isabella would have her way, as she always did.

"Subtlety does not go with you _Catita_. Since Juana's children have been taken by the plague, and Maria has failed to give the King of Portugal a son" The Queen stopped giving a long sigh, "I am afraid the future of my Country will rest on you"

Katherine cringed, she knew of the possibility. Her sister was dying, Maria -she pondered- the last daughter and offspring of the Tratasmara line. After she died Katherine would be the only one left, all her mother's hopes to preserve the Kingdom of Spain would rest on her. She did not want to disappoint her mother or the people of Castile and Aragon, but she didn't want her responsibility with Spain put her at odds with the Prince of Wales.

She had seen him around Court more often, he was nicer and more excited to see her. Everything that her mother had predicted was working perfectly.

"Why so serious?" Isabella asked looking at her daughter with deep interest.  
God, she thought, Catita, was still very naive. She thought the world revolved around her, but she hasn't seen the real nature of the world as I have.

The truth was Katherine did not like the game her mother was forcing her to play. She felt like a chess piece on a chessboard, constantly being used by her mother.

"If it is about your friend the Prince of Wales -"

Katherine cut her mother "He is not my friend, he is my betrothed, the future King of England." She reminded her mother with a harsh tone.

"Oh yes I remember love and duty ... When I married your father it was all for love, and for duty as well because his marriage would unite two Kingdoms, unifying Spain. But you know now that I think about it, I realize how much happier I would have been if I had married to France or to England ... the Plantagenet Dynasty would have certainly lasted more."

Katherine was no longer shocked to hear her mother's crude remarks. Her husband's death, as the rest of their family had changed her. Before she had ocassionaly been the cynic, now she was completely cynical and sarcastic. But she let her mother continued for no matter what expression she showed to her mother, her mother would just roll over it and ignore it like she had always done in the past.

"... love comes second after having children. After you finally marry and consume your union with that boy I expect you to give me a grandson by the end of the year"

Katherine looked at her mother, her eyes going completely wide. How could she expect her to fall pregnant so soon? She wasn't the virgin Mary, she couldn't conjure a child out of thin air, that depended a lot on Harry as well as her.

"Madre, you know what you are asking is too much? I had lain with Arthur three times" Katherine reminded her mother. "I cannot do it"

"Not here you will cause yourself a nosebleed Catalina. Never doubt the tools that the Lord gives us" Isabella hissed her eyes darting on every corner as if to make sure no one had heard her daughter. It was a dangerous game they were playing, if everyone found out not only would her daughter be exposed as a liar but so would Isabella. Victory had to be theirs at any cost.

"You should also remember mother that Maria though weak is still young, she could provide the King of Portugal with a son or a daughter, someone who could take your throne, I am not-"

Isabella looked at her daughter sharply "Maria is dying be realistic Catalina, I blame myself I let you spend too much time with your father and the poets of his Court, if you would have grown in Castile none of this would have happened. For one you would not be speaking of these matters when there is too much ears and eyes around us _hija_"

"Then why not silence me mother?" Katherine asked evenly.

"Because you are God's chosen one, the future Queen of England and Spain, it is not my place to shut a future Queen. A Queen does not slap another Queen, weren't you in school long enough to learn that?" Isabella snapped at her daughter.

"Madre ... please forgive me" Katherine said lowering her gaze. Her mother's fingers were brought to her chin lifting her head to meet her neutral gaze.

"Never hesitate my daughter nor say you are sorry. It is very ... unlike a Queen."

"Yes _madre_" Said Katherine quietly.

"When I received news that your sister and her children were taken by the plague three weeks ago it devastated me, a dagger punched to my heart, but I did not cry, I finished mourning her the second after you entered my guest Chambers because in you Catita I saw the future. It does us no good to live in the past, we must always be ready by what the future brings us, and never should we give up or turn our backs on destiny. If one door closes in your life, another one opens, always remember that. There is always a way out _mija_, always"

"But what happens when God choses to close all your doors?" Inquired Katherine.

"Then you prove yourself to him, keep looking for new doors, the possibilities are endless, there are always a woman can provide a husband with an heir ... I never had to do it because God blessed me with many sons, my husband didn't have to worry about it either since his seed was fruitful, the Tudors however are plagued by sickness, poor health you already been witnessed to that" Isabella said grimly "and they have enemies on every corner, no one including me thinks that they deserve the Crown of England. They stole it from Richard III, this should be a Plantagenet Court not a Tudor one, however we have one advantage. While a Plantagenet King would have been more cunning and smart, your betrothed is easilly manipulated by his conscience and what the others tells him to, commoners."

"How is that an advantage?" Katherine asked knitting her eyebrows in confusion.

"If the King is easily manipulated by his councilors, he can easily be manipulated by his wife, that is you. After he becomes Henry VIII he will look at you, turn to you and it must be very important that you always show him affection, approval, but not too much tell him what he wants but always leave something else to desire and above all keep yourself out of suspicions when you give him his son, Ceaser's wife must always be above suspicion" Isabella reminded in a firm tone.

Then as her eyes darted back at her daughter, something else caught her sight. It was that young man, the same one whom she had caught her daughter often speaking. It was Master Moore, her future son in law's tutor. She heard how close he was to the Prince of Wales ... maybe ...

"Catita, I think you have an admirer behind you, why don't you give him a smile. A future Queen must always greet her subjects with a smile." The Queen said and her daughter reluctantly obliged. It was all part of the game.

Different to what she expected this short experience to be, Master Moore smiled back and something in that smile made Katherine wink. She couldn't help giggle as she watched Master Moore blush.

The Queen looked at the dynamics of the growing friendship between her daughter and the Prince's tutor. Somehow she knew her daughter was making fast friends with the Prince's closes friends. You kill more flies with honey than with vinegar, and her daughter was doing just that. Soon, very soon, Isabella mused her daughter would no longer need her advise.

_A child by the end of this year _-it would happen, Isabella would make it happen at whatever cost.

* * *

**A/N: Next chapter Harry and KOA's interaction. Great twist there you didn't imagine it right? Now KOA as closer to the Spanish throne, would Henry be a match for her?**

_De ahora en adelante soy Katherine, un nombre anglicano, ingles puro para una futura Reina de Inglaterra madre._

_Translation "From now on I am Katherine, an English name, pure English for a future Queen of England mother"_


End file.
